How to pay a Czar

After reading the Trib's editorial calling for a Mussolini-type to run Chicago schools, Gov. Rauner picked Beth Purvis as the state's "education czar". I'm not exactly sure what a state ed czar does, given that Chicago schools are already ruled from City Hall by our own Little Emperor. And Rahm's about to anoint his own 4th sub-czar in 4 years to replace BBB (Didn't I just see her on America's Most Wanted? Or am I confusing BBB with "Fast Eddie"?).

The problem for Rauner is, how to pay Purvis her quarter-million-dollar annual salary, given his own draconian cuts to the state's education budget. Turns out to be no problem at all. He simply raids the Department of Human Services budget. That's the agency that funds things like autism and epilepsy services  The Czar's new contract was signed three weeks before the governor’s office authorized $26 million in cuts to that same agency.

Robbing Peter to pay Purvis. Nice.

All this prompted this angry missive to the Sun-Times from CTU V.P. Jesse Sharkey .

Illinois is not broke. Illinois is flush. The problem is that those who can pay, don’t. The effective state income-tax rate for the poorest 20 percent of earners in the state is double what the wealthiest 1 percent of people pay.

Well said.